


Until Everything Goes Back to Normal

by mystifiedgalinda



Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe- No prank, F/F, Multi, Zombie Apocalypse, Zombies, basically every other chapter will be from Emily's POV, honestly it'll probably end up being em/jess/matt/mike but we'll see, there'll be minor sam/beth and crashley and stuff but the focus will be on em, well a prank technically happened but beth/hannah didn't die
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-30
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-18 11:42:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21610345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mystifiedgalinda/pseuds/mystifiedgalinda
Summary: Emily Davis wanted to be done with high school. Her ex boyfriend was dating her ex best friend, her friend group was unravelling, and her mom was becoming more and more distant. But when Emily said she wanted to be done with high school, she meant she wanted to leave for college. She did not mean she wanted their town to be attacked by mindless flesh-eating monsters.In an AU where Beth/Hannah don't die during the prank, the Until Dawn friends never interact with the wendigos. Instead, they need to learn how to survive both the zombie apocalypse and each other.
Relationships: Emily Davis/Jessica Riley (Until Dawn), Emily Davis/Matt Taylor (Until Dawn)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 13





	1. Beth; The Start

“You’re far too sentimental.”

Emily scoffed as her and Beth walk through the school’s parking lot. Beth pursed her lips, unsure whether it was pointless to respond. They had spent the day arguing over whether to cut a sophomore from the debate team. Technically, Emily was right - Scott Douglass was a distraction during practice and earned them a remarkable zero points during most competitions. If this were an official debate, Emily’s side was winning.

As they walked in temporary silence, Beth’s face morphed into a scowl to match her co-captain.  _ Knowing Em, she had her rebuttals and concluding remarks prepared for days before she began to argue this. _

Being kicked off the debate team was unprecedented, though that was only because Emily didn’t have enough authority until this year. Beth shuddered at the very idea. Although Emily and her were among the most popular (and, in Emily’s case, feared) girls in school, their social prowess didn’t extend to the debate team as a whole. That is to say, Emily and Beth were popular despite their position as debate team captains and certainly not because of it. Kicking someone off would be social murder. 

Emily didn’t bother to hide the fact that she was growing increasingly impatient waiting for the response that Beth never planned on giving. Fortunately, they were interrupted by the sight of a man loitering by Emily’s car.

“Ew,” Emily said. Beth didn’t know how, but Emily’s scowl managed to get even meaner. “What is he doing?”

The man lifted his head at Emily’s voice and began to lumber towards them. His movements gave Beth pause. He moved like a marionette with an unseen hand pulling the strings towards them. Emily kept walking towards him with far more confidence than warranted for such a short girl. Beth lingered behind.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Emily asked.

As the strings moved the man closer, a rotten smell made both girls’ eyes water. Now that he was almost close enough to touch, Beth could see how his pale skin stuck to his face. His eyes looked like he had an incurable amount of cataracts, and Beth doubted that he was seeing anything more than vague outlines of the two. His brown hair had clearly been falling out in tufts, and his pale scalp poked through what little hair he had left. 

The puppet man finally shook Emily’s confidence. She reached into her bag, grabbing a bottle of pepper spray. Beth wasn’t surprised she had one. Right as she took it out and shouted a final warning, the man lunged for her. Beth’s scream caught in her throat, but Emily ducked and stumbled backwards before he could touch her. She squeezed the top, and a burst of pepper spray hit the man in the face. He was unfazed, and he lunged again.

It was Beth’s turn to spring into action. She grabbed Emily’s arm and yanked her away just before the man could grab her. Beth ran back towards the school with an iron grip on Emily’s arm as Emily took a moment to snap out of her shock. The man followed them, but he felt no strong desire to run. Beth’s only plan was to put as much distance between them and the man as possible, but she didn’t want to count on the man to continue his leisurely pace. She was relieved when Emily took charge and made a beeline for the football field instead. The man continued to lumber after them as Emily opened the gate to the stands and she slammed it in his face. Just like with the pepper spray, he didn’t respond as he pushed against the fence. 

Emily kept pulling Beth away from the fence, not allowing for any time to catch their breath. It was unlocked, but the man didn’t realize it. Yet. He just kept pushing against the gate, hoping to power his way through. The fence creaked at the man’s efforts- it was meant to keep footballs in and wildlife out. It didn’t stand much of a chance against the strength of a grown man. 

The football team’s practice ground to a halt at the scene. Beth was openly sobbing, and Emily was barely holding herself together. Matt was the first one over, having stopped the play in its tracks. The rest of the team dutifully followed their captain, and even the coach knew to shut his mouth and let them go. Matt arrived far faster than seemed humanly possible. 

Matt pulled Beth behind him, and he wrapped his arms around Emily and held her securely to his chest. He was far larger than both women, and he held Emily so tightly that Beth was worried he’d accidentally crush her. He stared at the man, who was undeterred by the arrival of nearly 25 men. Matt’s eyes, usually so kind and gentle, bore deep into the man.

“What’s going on?” Matt asked, his voice tense and low. His question was directed at Emily, and Beth was so terrified that she didn’t even try answering.

“He hit us. He- he tried to kill us,” Emily said, staying pressed up to Matt.

If Matt hadn’t already committed to holding Emily, he would have charge and killed the strange man himself.

Beth didn’t correct Emily. The man didn’t technically touch them, but she didn’t think the latter part was an entire lie. She felt sick as she thought about what would have happened if they hadn’t ran when they did.

“Jesus Christ,” the coach said. He sounded more upset about the inevitably of practice being cancelled than anything else. The team milled around him in awkward silence, unable to gauge if the situation was actually serious. Things like this didn’t happen in their town. 

Finally, the coach directed one player to grab his cell phone and call the police. Before the boy could make the call, the gate came crashing down and the man stumbled inside the field. This time, however, no one backed away. Even Emily straightened up, wanting to see the man’s face when he realized he was no longer attacking two women. There was nothing as sure as the confidence of teenagers surrounded by their friends.

The man, however, didn’t seem to mind the added opponents. In fact, the presence of the team seemed to make him more excited, and he advanced faster towards the group while slobbering from his mouth. 

Duke, a man known for his temper on and off the field, saw this as a perfect opportunity. Unlike most of his violent outbursts, this one would earn him praise and glory. He would be the hero that saved Emily Davis and Beth Washington, and he imagined both families would shower him with some of their fortune. While the rest of the team waited for orders from either Matt or the coach, Duke darted forward and easily tackled the man. The man scratched and bit at Duke, and he managed to bite Duke’s uncovered forearm. Duke screamed and smashed the man’s head in the ground, causing him to release his arm. Beth’s stomach dropped at the cracking sound and the sight of Duke’s blood, and a paling Duke rolled off the man. Three of his teammates took his place in holding the man down, and the coach hurried to Duke to check out his wound.

“Matthew, get the girls out of here. We’ll wait for the police,” the coach said. He glanced over at his players, who were piled on the man. One player stood with his cleat on the man’s leg, and there was cracking sounds whenever the man tried to move. The coach didn’t want anyone to be charged with manslaughter, but he wouldn’t mind them roughing the biter up. 

“Yes, coach,” Matt said. He led the girls out from the other end of the field, and he held both of them this time. He wanted the man to be hurt, but seeing his teammates actually hurt someone made him too uncomfortable to think about. The trio walked back to the parking lot in silence, and Emily sat in the front of Matt’s old truck. Matt drove in silence, going to the Washington mansion first to drop Beth off. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw two other cars in the driveway,

“Thank you,” Beth said. She was equally relieved at the sight of the cars. She didn’t know if she could manage being alone.

“Do you want me to walk you in?” Matt asked.

Beth knew it was a genuine offer, but she also knew Emily wouldn’t bother to get out of the car to join them and she didn’t want to leave Emily alone. She shook her head, smiling at Matt in the mirror.

“Hannah and Josh should be home,” Beth said. “I’ll be alright. Thank you, though.”

Beth left and half jogged to the front door. She didn’t want to embarrass herself, but she didn’t want to spend any more time outside than necessary. She waved goodbye to Matt and Emily before she shut and locked the door. She initially planned to tell her family what happened, but as she walked in she was hit with an intense feeling of exhaustion. The emotions of what just happened bubbled up, and she finds herself wishing that she took Matt up on his offer to walk her in. He could protect her far better than her sister and brother.

Beth knows the right thing to do is to tell her siblings. They deserved to know, and they usually knew how to make her feel better. But both Josh and Hannah were too dramatic, and if she told them then there would be no chance they would let her fall asleep anytime soon. She also considered calling Sam, but Beth didn’t want to worry her. They would all find out when the police come to get an official report, and she knew the story would spread like wildfire. At least she had Emily to guide of the rumors in their favor.

Instead of calling anyone, Beth checked the locks on the windows and doors in their house. Her dad made sure to have the best security available, but Beth still felt unsafe. The security was here to protect his wealth, not his children. 

Beth went up three flights of stairs to her room. She drew the shades, locked her door, and kept her lights on. The puppet man’s putrid scent still stung her nose, so she lit every candle in her room. They barely helped.

Her only comfort was Shoelace, a stuffed pug that Sam won for her at the fair nearly ten years ago. She crawled into bed with her stuffed animal and hid under the covers. Beth fell asleep curled up around her stuffed animal as she waited for everything to go back to normal. 


	2. Emily; A New Friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emily and Matt deal with the aftermath of her attempted assault

Emily wanted the ride back to her car to be silent, but Matt insisted on trying to start a conversation.

“So that was pretty insane, right?” He asked, drumming his fingers against the steering wheel.

…

“I mean, did you see that guy?”

…

“He was crazy.”

…

“I wonder how the team is doing.”

“Matthew. Stop talking.” Emily was staring at her phone when she spoke, so she couldn’t see Matt’s expressions. He did, however, go silent so quickly that Emily almost felt bad. She leaned her head back and took a deep breath in through her nose.

Her mom hadn’t responded. Emily didn’t actually tell her what happened, but she did text her. Twice. She just wanted to make sure she wasn’t going home to an empty house. Her mom was likely there - she barely left the house nowadays, unless Emily’s stepfather insisted. But still.

“My mother’s not home,” Emily said.

“Huh?” Matt glanced at Emily, but Emily was staring straight ahead. It took him a moment to get what she was insinuating. “Why don’t you come over for dinner?”

Of course he would offer. Emily knew Matt was far too kind to make her ask. “Alright.”

“My parents won’t mind. I think my mom’s making pasta, so there’ll be plenty to go around.”

“Alright.”

“And Bea’s been dying to see you again.” 

“Bea?”

There’s a beat of silence where Emily realized she definitely should know who Bea is and where Matt realized she definitely did not Fortunately, Emily understood context clues enough to wager a guess, so before Matt could express any disappointment Emily corrected herself.

“I mean, I thought she’d still be in school or something,” Emily said. She had definitely met Matt’s little sister before - she had met Matt’s sister multiple times, actually. But Emily wasn’t paying attention the first time they met, and no one bothers to introduce people a second time. Anyways, living in ignorance about her friend’s sister’s name hadn’t affected Emily’s life at all until this very brief moment. And now she knew it’s (probably, unless Matt was talking about someone else) Bea.

“Uh- yeah, no, we wait for her to be back from flute practice before we eat,” Matt said with a chuckle. He felt silly that he thought Emily might not know who Bea is, though he was a bit confused - isn’t it obvious that they would wait for the entire family to be home before they eat? But then again, maybe it isn’t obvious to her. Maybe nothing about family is obvious to Em.

Emily didn’t respond (again), so the rest of the short drive to Matt’s neighborhood was quiet. Emily pursed her lips as they pull up to Matt’s house. She used to feel uncomfortable coming here - in her childhood mind, a three bedroom house was basically a shack. It still made her a bit claustrophobic. 

“Hey, Em?” Matt said, pulling into the garage and gently touching Emily’s shoulder.

“Hm?” 

“I’m really sorry about what happened back there. It must have been really scary,” Matt said, looking at her with such soft brown eyes that Emily wanted to cry. And Emily never wanted to cry.

His eyes were soft and gentle and genuine. He looked at her like he actually wanted her to open up. She didn’t want to, but it was nice to know the opportunity was there. Mike’s eyes used to be soft and gentle but not genuine - never genuine, not when talking to Emily. Emily’s stomach twisted as she thought about Mike and Jess, probably on their second date and ignoring what their assholery did to Emily. Ignoring how they both broke her heart. Ignoring how all those jokes they made about threesomes and how they should date each other - and ignoring how they would always tell Emily to stop being so sensitive about it - ended up coming true. Ignoring how Emily should have known better from the very beginning, because she’s never been too sensitive about anything.

Matt was genuine. Matt might be a meathead who’s only aspiration in life is to play football, but he’s genuine. And it had been a really long day, and Emily had seen her ex-best friend and her ex-boyfriend hanging onto each other in the hallway. And Emily was disgusted because why would they insist on so much PDA when Mike never made out with Emily at school? And Emily never wanted to kiss Michael in their dinky little high school because she wasn’t a slut like Jess, but he never even tried. And Beth never gave her an actual response about kicking Scott Douglass off the debate team even though it was clearly the smart thing to do. And she was almost assaulted by a man who looked and smelled like death and Emily felt sick to her stomach when she thought about what would have happened if he actually grabbed her. And Emily was scared that he would somehow be waiting for her in one of the rooms of her mansion and that her mom wasn’t responding to her texts because the man somehow already killed her. And she was annoyed because she knew it was an irrational fear and Emily Davis was nothing if not rational so if she had an irrational fear, maybe she truly was nothing.

Emily could tell that her mind was spiralling, so, naturally, she leaned over the center console and kissed Matt’s lips. He hesitated for a moment, caught off guard before he leaned fully in the kiss.

Emily began her countdown from seven seconds. Seven seconds was just long enough for her to get her feelings across while still being short enough that Emily didn’t grow too bored. She pulled away as soon as her mental timer hit zero, and she let Matt tenderly stroke her hair behind her ear.

“Em…” He trailed off, not bothering to hide the goofy smile on his face.

“Come on. I need to wash the stank of creepy old man off me,” Emily said, finally feeling at peace as she got out of the car. Matt followed her out, the smile staying on his face as he led her inside. No one else was home, and Emily wished she waited to kiss Matt because he kept looking at her with his adorable puppy dog eyes and his ridiculous, happy smile. 

“So, um…” Matt rubbed the back of his neck and laughed a bit as he sat on the couch. “What was that for?”

“A kiss for my knight in shining football pads,” Emily cooed, sitting next to him and turning so she’s facing him entirely. “Well, maybe your football pads aren’t shining. You really should wash them, Matthew.”

Matt made a show of sniffing his practice clothes. “Really? I think they look pretty good,” he said, scooting closer to Emily. 

“My eyes are watering,” Emily said, plugging her nose and pushing him away. She could be playful, when she wanted to be. Matt laughed and flopped to the ground, holding his heart as though she just shot him.

“Aye, you wound me. But fine, fine. I’ll get changed. Just make yourself at home,” Matt said, looking up at Em from his new place on the floor and debating with himself how pulling her on top of him would be received. He decided not to risk it, and he jumped up and went to his bedroom to get changed into something more presentable. 

Now that Emily was alone, she withdrew into the couch and chewed on her lip. Did Matt lock the door when they came in? She kept glancing towards the door, and she could swear that the knob was moving. She tried to distract herself with her phone and briefly opens Twitter, but the trending news was always too depressing. Emily didn’t want to read about the random assaults happening throughout town, so she switched to looking at her messages. Out of habit, she goes to text Jess.

The last message Emily sent was a week ago, where she heard from Beth who heard from Sam who heard from Jessica herself that it was her and Mike’s first official date that night. Emily knew they were hooking up - a day before Mike and her broke up, she saw Jess grinding against Mike like she was a fucking cat in heat, and she saw Mike kissing her neck like it was his life’s sole purpose to give her a hickey. 

Which, okay, yeah. Jess was prettier than Emily. Jessica was the prettiest girl in the entire school and she had been since sixth grade. Emily knew that. Her hair was soft and she always smelt like vanilla even though she hadn’t baked anything in her entire life. Objectively, Jess looked like a goddess. So Emily was pissed off, but at least she understood. It was logical. What she still couldn’t understand, though, is why Mike would want to make it official. Jessica might beat Emily physically, but Mike wanted to connect with her on an emotional level? On an intellectual level? It didn’t make sense. 

Emily didn’t want to ruin their date night specifically, but she did want Jess to know how much of a bitch she was. If Emily expressing her anger happened to fall on the same night as their first date, then so be it. Life was full of strange coincidences. So for a few hours that night, Emily sent a list of some of the most devastating insults she could think of in her state of blind rage.

Most of the texts just read ‘whore’.

It wasn’t her best work.

But it was effective.

And it made Emily feel better.

Emily’s fingers hovered over the keyboard as she tried to write a text that she knew she’d never send. She had already pledged to never talk to Jess in a civil manner. She could forgive Mike - he was an idiot who got caught up in Jessica’s looks. Emily wasn’t an idiot; she knew high school relationships weren’t meant to last. Best case scenario, her and Mike would have broken up right before college and remained distant friends after. It was something Emily had come to accept. Mike was always temporary. But Jess…

What she did was unforgivable.

Emily took a deep breath and shut off her phone. She didn’t realize she’s grinding her teeth until her jaw began to ache, and she had to force herself to loosen up. She was here with her new unofficial boyfriend - who, objectively, was just as good as Mike. At least for a high school boyfriend. And Matt was in their friend group, so the group would need to choose between Emily/Matt versus Mike/Jess instead of just choosing between them and Emily. Emily wasn’t an idiot about her chances in that lineup, even if the group (bare Hannah, who must have thought it was only a matter of time before Mike left Jess for her) remained neutral so far. And Matt was genuine.

“Maaaattt?” Emily called out, looking towards his room. If she wasn’t going to send mean texts to Jess, then the next best thing would be to hang out with her new boyfriend. There was no response, and Emily craned her neck to try and see into the room. Matt had closed his door, and Emily had a brief flash of worry that the man killed Matt and was waiting in the room wearing his skin. She pushed the fear down because it was probably illogical. “Matt?”

Emily moved to his room slowly. She opened the door, wincing at the creek of the old wood as she mentally prepared herself to either be pranked or, you know, murdered. If this was a prank, she was going to kill him. Instead she saw Matt standing shell shocked in front of his mirror, wearing nothing but boxers.

“Matt? Gee, you’re moving kind of fast. Take me to dinner first, at least,” Emily said, because he was really starting to freak her out. Matt put his phone down on the table and looked to Emily. He remained silent, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. Emily stared back at him, half tempted to just flee. Her presence seemed to only slightly snap him out of whatever mental state he’s in. “Matt?”

“Em, we need to go. Now.”


	3. Matt; The Call

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matt gets a worrying phone call.

_Ten minutes earlier_

Matt was over the moon. He never really considered Emily as a potential girlfriend, half because she was dating Mike for almost a year, and half because she didn’t seem to like him all that much. In fact, the only time they ever hung out was with the group. 

He also knew it was technically against the bro-code to date your friend’s ex-girlfriend, but he imagined that that specific bro-rule got cancelled when the ex-girlfriend was his friend too. Plus, Jess was dating her best friend's ex-boyfriend, so if the sis-code was thrown out the window then the bro-code might as well be too And when Em kissed him, it felt nice. He wasn’t going to not do something that felt nice because Mike might get upset. Sam is always telling him to stand up for himself, anyways. And that would start with kissing Emily.

Matt went to his room to get changed, and he chewed on his bottom lip as he tried to put together an outfit. Emily was pretty open about her interest in fashion, and someone’s outfit was always the first of many things she would make fun of. After much deliberation, Matt decided on a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. His closet was split between very casual athletic gear and very formal wear for dinners with his parents, and Matt figured that being underdressed was probably better than going back to Em dressed in a suit - though he _does_ look good in a suit. He stripped off his practice clothes and tossed them into his hamper before he went to the mirror and flexed a bit.

Matt was attractive. He knew that. Mike might have a pretty boy face, but Matt had muscles. He worked out nearly everyday, so he didn’t see anything wrong with admiring his body in the mirror. Anyways, seeing himself shirtless helped to pump him up for going back to Emily. You do need a great deal of confidence to be able to deal with her, after all. He pointed at himself and winked in the mirror, but right before he went to get dressed his phone rang. 

_Dad_. 

Ever the dutiful son, Matt answered on the first ring.

“‘Ello, papa,” Matt said, talking in a posh british accent, hoping to get his dad to laugh.

“Matt. Oh, thank god you’re alright,” his dad said, sighing in relief.

“Er- yeah?” Matt stared at himself in the mirror. The concern in his dad’s voice was so incongruent with what Matt expected that he ignored it altogether.

_Should I shave? Does Emily like stubble? Mike always seems to have stubble, so maybe I should have stubble. Or maybe the stubble is why they broke up, and I should shave._

_Maybe I should stop trying to compare myself to Mike so much. It’s probably not healthy. It’s been about ten minutes since Emily kissed me - and she didn’t even say she wanted to date - and I’ve already compared himself to Mike on two separate occasions. I probably should nip that habit in the butt. Bud?_

“You need to listen to me very carefully, okay?” His dad said.

“Dad?” Matt paused, straightening up but still considering his stubble debate.

“Where are you right now?”

“Uh- in my room.”

“Are you alone?”

Matt looked around, the hair on the back of his neck standing up. Was he alone? “Yeah. Well - no. I mean, Emily is here. Not in my room, obviously, but on the couch outside. I invited her over for dinner, if that’s okay.”

“Emily?” His dad sighed, but Matt couldn’t place the emotion. Matt knew his parents weren’t the biggest Emily fans - most people weren’t, honestly - but his dad seemed more upset than Emily’s presence warranted. “Are you feeling sick? Are either of you feeling sick?”

“No. I mean, I’m not. What’s going on?” Matt asked, his voice more forceful.

“Matt-” Matt was really beginning to resent how often his dad was saying his name. “-they’re not telling us much. I shouldn’t even be making this phone call. But something happened at work. I’m with your mom and Beatrice, and we’re safe. They’re taking us to a bunker. You need to go to the Sherwood Mall, okay? Go straight to the Sherwood Mall. There’s going to be a shelter there.”

If Matt was being honest, he didn’t entirely know what his dad did for work. He imagined most kids only had a faint clue of what their parents actually did (Mr. Washington worked with movies, but neither Josh or the twins could ever properly explain to Matt what he actually did for them). Matt knew his dad was basically a genius and a scientist of some sort, but outside of that his dad didn’t talk about it all that much. Matt didn’t bother to ask either- he wanted to play football, so he didn’t need to learn what a scientist did.

“A shelter? A shelter from what? And Sherwood Mall is a dump,” Matt asked.

“They’ll transport you to us, okay? Emily should just go home. It’ll be safer for you alone.”

“Her mom isn’t home, and I’m not just going to just kick her out. She’s too freaked out as it is,” Matt said. He was confused, but he would put his foot down for Emily.

“Freaked out? Did something happen, Matthew?”

“Uh- this dude attacked her at school. Her and Beth. But they’re okay, I think.”

“Was she bit?”

“Bit?” Matt saw a flash of Duke rolling off the man with his bleeding arm. “No. He didn’t touch her. Why?”

“There’s a disease, Matt. I don’t know much about it. No one does. But they’re saying it spreads through bites. Jesus, if it already got to Lindale... you need to go, now. You can take Emily, but go _now_. If they aren’t letting you leave town, then get as much non-perishable food as you can and go home. Don’t worry about money - just take my credit card from my drawer. If you can’t make it to the mall, don’t leave the house unless you absolutely have to. I’ll find a way to get you, okay?”

“Dad-” Matt said, and he gripped his phone so tightly his knuckles were losing color.

“There’s a gun safe hidden in my bottom right drawer,” his dad began.

“A gun safe?”

“The code is 62-03-47. Did you get that? 62-03-47. Repeat it back to me, Matt.”

“Dad, why do you have a gun?”

“Repeat it back to me! 62-03-47.”

“62-03-47.”

“62-03-47. Good,” his dad said. There was a small commotion on his end of the line, but Matt was too shellshocked to try and listen. “Matt, I love you. We all love you so much. Please be safe.”

“Dad, I-”

His dad hung up before Matt could finish his sentence. He could hear Emily calling his name, but it sounded as though she was in a distant cave.

A gun safe. He didn’t even know his parents owned a gun. Both of them loathed guns. And his dad sounded scared - a dad should never sound scared, especially not when talking to their kid. Matt wanted to throw up.

“-moving kind of fast. Take me to dinner first, at least.”

Matt turned around, his mind struggling to wrap around what just happened. Somehow, Emily was in his room.

_62-03-47_.

“Matt?” Emily said, and she sounded confused. Emily sounding confused was almost as strange as his dad sounding scared. Matt grabbed her arms and looked down at her, still in a state of shock.

““Em, we need to go. Now.”

Emily glanced at his hands on her arms with more disgust than fear. “Uh, let me go. Now.”

Matt instantly dropped his hands to his side. “Emily, please, let’s just go. I- we need to go to the Sherwood mall. Just- just get in the car.”

Emily looked at him for what felt like a full minute before she shrugged. “Fine.”

“Fine?” Matt was surprised that Emily was agreeing with him, but he wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Especially when that gift horse was something as rare as a cooperative Emily. “I- uh, okay. Let’s go.”

Emily took his hand and started walking to the garage. This threw Matt off before he remembered they sort of just started dating, and he shook out of it before he followed Emily to the garage.

62-03-47.

Matt glanced behind him, debating whether he should grab the gun from his dad’s safe. He couldn’t imagine Emily would appreciate him waving a gun ( _a gun!_ ) around in her face, so he decides to drop it. If this ended up being a prank, or if his dad just had a mental breakdown or something, Matt wanted some plausible deniability that he did not, in fact, fall for the sky is falling. Going to the mall with his girlfriend ( _girlfriend!_ ) afforded him that plausible deniability that wouldn’t be there if he was holding a gun.

“You know, there’s less creepy ways to ask me on a date,” Emily said as she got in his passenger’s seat. “And there’s also less shitty malls to be taking me to.”

“Huh?” Matt shook his head as he drove. “Uh, yeah, well, you know me. I like being romantic. I’m already brewing up a crazy promposal for you.”

“Presumptuous.”

“Well, after I wow you with a trip to the best food court in all the west coast, I’ll move onto planning a perfect presumptuous promposal.”

Emily laughed, and Matt relaxed. She had a nice laugh, and it was sweetened by the fact that it was hard to get out of her. Matt tapped his fingers against the steering wheel as he drove down their idyllic neighborhood. It all looked fine.

Everything was fine.


	4. Emily; The Preparation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matt and Emily go shopping

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have I not updated this in a solid year? Yeah, sure. Am I obsessed with Until Dawn again and planning on actually writing more of this? Also yes. 
> 
> Sorry for disappearing, everyone!

There was a 20% chance that Matt had completely lost it and was driving her somewhere to kill her like in one of those horror movies Mr. Washington produced, but Emily had already decided that she wanted to be with him. Changing her mind so quickly would mean she was incredibly wrong about kissing him, which would be incredibly embarrassing because the kiss was definitely thought out and definitely not just a spur of the moment impulse, since that would be immature to follow through on and Emily is not immature. Not like Mike and Jessica.

So Emily rolled the dice and got in the car.

“Can you text the group for me?” Matt asked as they drove. “I just gotta tell them something.”

Emily was silent. She hasn’t texted ‘the group’ ever since Mike and Jessica betrayed her.

“Uh. I mean, can you text Sam?” Matt corrected himself. Sam was a nice neutral party.

“Sure,” Emily said. No one could say she won’t compromise.

“Okay. Just tell her that something weird is going on and that she should get somewhere safe. Probably Sherwood Mall. And tell her to tell everyone that,” Matt said, and he stared ahead as though it was the most typical thing in the world. Emily put down her phone.

There was now a 40% chance of being murdered.

“You want me to text Sam that something weird is going on and that she should get somewhere safe?” Emily asked.

“Yeah,” Matt said. “Just- you know. Just as a joke. Then tomorrow it’ll be like, they’re Chicken Little.”

“You want me to prank Sam by claiming that the apocalypse is upon us? So they’ll be like Chicken Little? The movie?”

“Yeah.”

“And you think I’m going to do that?”

“You like pranks.”

“When they’re funny.”

“Em, I feel like if I’m going to take you on a super cool date to Sherwood Mall and buy you a delicious pretzel in the food court, then the least you could do is help me prank Sam.”

“And I feel like if I’m going to let you take me on a date to the worst mall in the entire state, then the least you could do is…” Emily trailed off when the car came to a stop.

In front of them was a line of cars, all waiting to merge on the highway. Matt and Emily both sat up to try and see what was causing the holdup, and Emily could just barely see the red and blue lights of a cop car around the bend.

“Okay. Fuck. Fuck,” Matt said. He turned their car around and began speeding off. “Fuck.”

“I’m not paying for a ticket if you get pulled over,” Emily warned him as she tightened her seatbelt. Matt didn’t respond. So there was now a 50% chance of being murdered, and a 20% chance that she’ll die in a car crash. Wonderful. Death seemed to be insistent on not sparing Emily today.

Matt and Emily drove in a rather unsettling silence. Emily chewed on the inside of her cheek and stared out the window, watchin the buildings pass by far too quickly. Matt pulled into a grocery store, and Emily didn’t stop looking out the window.

“I just need to… uh, get some stuff,” Matt said. He sounded like he knew he was insane. “Want to come with?”

Emily had not wanted to do anything she had done this entire day, so why start now? She got out of the car and looked at Matt. Apparently, her displeasure was clear.

“Hey, it isn’t my fault the highway was broken,” Matt said, and he put his hands up defensively.

“Highways don’t break. It was backed up. And we could have taken back roads,” Emily argued. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Emily Davis wanted to take back roads to the ‘worst mall in the entire country’?” Matt asked. “Come on, Em.”

“You’re being weird,” Emily said.

Matt didn’t have a response for this, apparently. This just heightened Emily’s suspicion, but she honestly had no idea what she should even be suspicious about. Was this whole thing a prank _on her_? Even Josh wasn’t stupid enough to piss Emily off right now. And the man at their school wasn’t a prank. Emily’s stomach twisted as she thought back to him. He definitely wasn’t sent by one of her friends (or, in the case of all of them except probably Matt and Sam, “friends” with emphasis on the quotation marks). Even Mike and Jessica weren’t that cruel. Emily didn’t forget how weird Matt was being, but she did hurry around the car so she was closer to him.

Matt looked to her for a moment, and he had that same, confused puppy dog look he always had. After a moment of failing to speak, he finally gave up. Good. Matt walked with her into the store, which was mostly vacant except for them and a few employees milling around. Matt looked around, and for the umpteenth time today he looked lost.

“What are we even getting here, anyways?” Emily asked.

“Uh… Just some non-perishable food,” Matt said.

“Non-perishable food? Delicious,” Emily said.

“It’s for my dad. I think he’s, like, doing a science thing,” Matt said.

“A science thing?” Emily repeated.

“All the best science things involve non-perishable food,” Matt said. “You should know that, smarty-pants. Come on. And I’ll buy whatever you pick for dinner, and I’ll cook it. Does that sound like a deal?”

“Being able to watch you try to make sushi is definitely worth coming along to do your chores,” Emily said. Compromises. Emily’s life was all about compromises.

Matt peeled off to grab non-perishable food, which left Emily to grab food for dinner. Normally she would have asked Matt to take her out for dinner, but she wasn’t too keen on wandering around right now. There was a risk of running into another crazed man, or worse- of running into Jessica or Mike. Or, even worse of all, of running into Jessica _and_ Mike at the restaurant. Matt’s house was safe. Small and safe and secure and free of both murderers and backstabbers.

Emily found herself looking over her shoulder while shopping. Her stomach burned with anger when she realized she was paranoid even here. Grocery stores were no Rodeo Drive, but it was still shopping. That asshole was not going to take shopping away from her. Through sheer force of will, Emily managed to finish shopping while staring straight ahead of her. She wasn’t scared. She was not scared.

When the couple met back up to check out, Emily had a sudden desire to hide her face. Matt didn’t get _some_ non-perishable food. He got every piece in the whole goddam store. He filled out a cart with both cans of food and with a seemingly random assortment of vitamins, pain killers, and other miscellaneous items. It only took her a moment to zero in on a box of condoms on top of a can of black beans.

“Presumptuous.” Emily raised an eyebrow. Matt followed her eyes, and his cheeks grew darker in embarrassment.

“I just- I mean- you know- I just grabbed random things off the shelf. Like, handfuls of things. I didn’t even look. I can put them back,” Matt said. 

Partially because Matt was cute when he was embarrassed, partially because his stammering was starting to draw attention to them, and partially because Emily figured Matt had to be better in bed than Mike was, Emily just rolled her eyes and walked over to the checkout line. She gave a small gesture for Matt to follow, and Matt released a breath before he pushed his cart up.

The clerk didn’t find their doomsday preparation concerning, apparently. He hardly even glanced at them as he rang up their order. Matt’s face lost some color as he watched the total add up. Emily, whose current outfit cost twice as much, wasn’t phased by the price, but it did remind her of the sheer quantity of food they’re buying. She nudged Matt with her elbow, knocking him out of his temporary stupor. Matt seemed to be questioning what he was doing buying a small fortune’s worth of non-perishable foods for his dad’s vague science project, and Emily felt equally confused. Matt’s dad was a hematologist. Why would he need non-perishable foods from Lindale’s shittiest grocery store? Despite their mutual confusion, Matt swiped the credit card all the same. 

“I’m not helping you carry any of this,” Emily said as Matt helped bag the groceries.  
“Really, Em?” Matt said. He feigned shock and put his hand on his heart. “You aren’t going to do manual labor? Why didn’t you tell me that at the beginning? This entire trip hinged on Emily Davis helping carry bags of canned food.”

“Shut up,” Emily said, and she could feel the smallest hint of a smile pulling on the corner of her lips.

Matt made a motion as though he was sealing his lips, and he and Emily walked back to their car. Matt seemed to have calmed down during his time in the store, and he drove back to his home in a way that Emily decreased the likelihood of being killed, either on accident or purpose, to being near zero. Mike pulled into his garage, and he looked to Emily with a look that she couldn’t exactly read.

“What, are you waiting for me to kiss you again? That’s not going to happen every time, you know,” Emily said, and she rolled her eyes as she got out of the car.

“Oh, come on. It could be our thing,” Matt protested. He gathered some groceries and followed Emily inside his house.

“Our thing will not be kissing in your garage, Matt,” Emily said, and she sat on the couch.

“Our thing could totally be kissing in my garage. It’s a pretty romantic garage, you know,” Matt said, smiling down at her.

“No garage can be romantic,” Emily said as she laid down on his couch. Matt moved to sit as well, which prompted Emily to snap her fingers at him. “It’s late. Don’t you have a dinner to make?”

“Huh?” Matt said, and then his face fell into a pout. “You’re actually going to make me do that? You know I’m a terrible cook, don’t you?”

“Uh, duh. So for the sake of our relationship, I’ll let you get takeout,” Emily said. Compromise. Relationship.

“On second thought, I think I’ll wow you with my cooking skills,” Matt said.

“Suit yourself.”

Matt went to the kitchen, leaving Emily alone with her thoughts once more. She sat on the couch, fidgeting with her phone as she listened. Matt was strangely quiet in the kitchen; she had expected him to quickly begin to make a mess. Maybe she underestimated the oaf. Maybe he was secretly ordering takeout.

That at least calmed her.

Maybe he was knocked out and gagged by a psychopath.

And she’s back to being anxious.

Even so, her phone eventually slipped from her hand and onto the couch as Emily dozed off. She was asleep a lot longer than she meant to be, and she likely would have slept through the rest of the night had it not been for the loud, blaring alarm that played sometime after eight.

THIS IS AN EMERGENCY ALERT MESSAGE. THIS IS NOT A TEST. THIS WARNING IS FOR THE FOLLOWING

Emily was up and racing through the house in search of Matt before the message could finish.


End file.
